Browninglover1
Well-Known Member
We're going to Quinten Tarantino this story by showing you the final rifle and how it's shooting and then you can read below for the full build story if you're interested.
My love affair with the 6.5 Creedmoor started over a decade ago when I purchased one in a Savage Model 10 Predator from someone off this forum. The rifle was a joy to shoot and I fell in love with the low recoil and high performance of the 6.5mm bullets. I soon sold the rifle to help fund my first semi custom built Creedmoor and that rifle suited me well for many years until I pulled the barrel to use the action for another build.
As my children have gotten older they've expressed an interest in joining me for big game hunts, and also as I've gotten older I've been interested in getting a lighter rifle, so I decided it was time to build a lightweight 6.5 Creedmoor. I had a pretty good idea of what components I wanted to use and settled on the following build:
Action: Impact NBK
Trigger: TT Diamond
Stock: Manners PH
Bottom Metal and Magazine: Boring Rifles
Barrel: Benchmark Carbon Fiber 1:7.5 twist, 24" long
Scope: Kahles k624i MOAK
Rings: American Rifle Company
Muzzle Device: PVA Ultralight Jetblast or KGM R30 Suppressor
Gunsmith: Mike Manzella with Manzella Precision
The only things I really debated during this build was the barrel and the stock. For the stock I was torn between a Manners PH and Manners LRH. I loved the idea of the adjustable cheek piece on the LRH but also loved the sleek look of the PH and had heard great things about the grip shape. Eventually I decided the PH was going to be good enough and I have liked it enough I now own two of them.
The barrel is where I spent the most time pondering what I would select. I L-O-V-E the look of carbon fiber barrels, but I've seen enough Proofs shoot terribly that I was very hesitant to try one. Even though I know hundreds of you have good lock with them, I have personally yet to see one shoot well with my own two eyes. Benchmark Carbon Fiber was intriguing but they're new enough I wasn't quite sure how they'd perform, and one of my gunsmiths said he just hadn't seen them shoot as well as a Proof. Talk about conflicting information that was gnawing at my soul! After much soul searching and seeing some great results from @rpierce, I called him up and got a 24" 7.5 twist blank ordered.
When the time came to have it chambered I shipped it off to Mike Manzella in Montana. Mike had chambered my 7 SAUM hunting rifles as well as a 22lr barrel for my RimX and I really wanted him to chamber my 6.5 Creedmoor as well. We had a few discussions about which reamer to use and he thought the Alpha Munitions reamer would be perfect for my application especially since I'd be using their brass. Once the barrel work was done and shipped back to me, I screwed everything together one evening and loaded up a few mild test loads to began barrel break in. Using 130 ELMD at an anemic 2600 fps the rifle was pounding out 1/2 MOA groups right out of the gate.
After attempting various different loads with 156 Bergers and 140 and 147 Hornady ELDMs I felt I was onto something special with N160 and a 147 ELDM. 5 shot groups were consistently 1/2" at 100 yards with a velocity of 2820-2850 fps. However, the ES on the Garmin was often 40-50 and wasn't really confidence inspiring. I took the load out to 900 yards on steel and it seemed to do great, but the dang numbers on the chronograph had me questioning if I should find something else.
I decided to take the last little bit of H4831SC I had and run the pet load from my first custom barrel and see how it would do in my new one. The load went into 1" at 300 yards with a velocity of 2830 fps and 4 of the 5 shots went into 1/2". I was elated, but also cautiously optimistic. I had just enough powder left to load 15 more rounds and returned to the range a week later and shot 3 more groups that all went 1/2 MOA in a switching wind. ES across all 15 shots was 35 fps with an SD of 8. While these numbers won't win the internet, there's not a big game animal on earth will care when bullets hit them in the boiler room.
Overall I feel this rifle has completely met my goal. Total rifle weight with the suppressor and bipod comes in at sub 12 pounds and I can easily knock off 2 pounds of total weight if I ditch the suppressor and go to a 2.5-10 NF NXS on hunts where the weight reduction is justified.
My love affair with the 6.5 Creedmoor started over a decade ago when I purchased one in a Savage Model 10 Predator from someone off this forum. The rifle was a joy to shoot and I fell in love with the low recoil and high performance of the 6.5mm bullets. I soon sold the rifle to help fund my first semi custom built Creedmoor and that rifle suited me well for many years until I pulled the barrel to use the action for another build.
As my children have gotten older they've expressed an interest in joining me for big game hunts, and also as I've gotten older I've been interested in getting a lighter rifle, so I decided it was time to build a lightweight 6.5 Creedmoor. I had a pretty good idea of what components I wanted to use and settled on the following build:
Action: Impact NBK
Trigger: TT Diamond
Stock: Manners PH
Bottom Metal and Magazine: Boring Rifles
Barrel: Benchmark Carbon Fiber 1:7.5 twist, 24" long
Scope: Kahles k624i MOAK
Rings: American Rifle Company
Muzzle Device: PVA Ultralight Jetblast or KGM R30 Suppressor
Gunsmith: Mike Manzella with Manzella Precision
The only things I really debated during this build was the barrel and the stock. For the stock I was torn between a Manners PH and Manners LRH. I loved the idea of the adjustable cheek piece on the LRH but also loved the sleek look of the PH and had heard great things about the grip shape. Eventually I decided the PH was going to be good enough and I have liked it enough I now own two of them.
The barrel is where I spent the most time pondering what I would select. I L-O-V-E the look of carbon fiber barrels, but I've seen enough Proofs shoot terribly that I was very hesitant to try one. Even though I know hundreds of you have good lock with them, I have personally yet to see one shoot well with my own two eyes. Benchmark Carbon Fiber was intriguing but they're new enough I wasn't quite sure how they'd perform, and one of my gunsmiths said he just hadn't seen them shoot as well as a Proof. Talk about conflicting information that was gnawing at my soul! After much soul searching and seeing some great results from @rpierce, I called him up and got a 24" 7.5 twist blank ordered.
When the time came to have it chambered I shipped it off to Mike Manzella in Montana. Mike had chambered my 7 SAUM hunting rifles as well as a 22lr barrel for my RimX and I really wanted him to chamber my 6.5 Creedmoor as well. We had a few discussions about which reamer to use and he thought the Alpha Munitions reamer would be perfect for my application especially since I'd be using their brass. Once the barrel work was done and shipped back to me, I screwed everything together one evening and loaded up a few mild test loads to began barrel break in. Using 130 ELMD at an anemic 2600 fps the rifle was pounding out 1/2 MOA groups right out of the gate.
After attempting various different loads with 156 Bergers and 140 and 147 Hornady ELDMs I felt I was onto something special with N160 and a 147 ELDM. 5 shot groups were consistently 1/2" at 100 yards with a velocity of 2820-2850 fps. However, the ES on the Garmin was often 40-50 and wasn't really confidence inspiring. I took the load out to 900 yards on steel and it seemed to do great, but the dang numbers on the chronograph had me questioning if I should find something else.
I decided to take the last little bit of H4831SC I had and run the pet load from my first custom barrel and see how it would do in my new one. The load went into 1" at 300 yards with a velocity of 2830 fps and 4 of the 5 shots went into 1/2". I was elated, but also cautiously optimistic. I had just enough powder left to load 15 more rounds and returned to the range a week later and shot 3 more groups that all went 1/2 MOA in a switching wind. ES across all 15 shots was 35 fps with an SD of 8. While these numbers won't win the internet, there's not a big game animal on earth will care when bullets hit them in the boiler room.
Overall I feel this rifle has completely met my goal. Total rifle weight with the suppressor and bipod comes in at sub 12 pounds and I can easily knock off 2 pounds of total weight if I ditch the suppressor and go to a 2.5-10 NF NXS on hunts where the weight reduction is justified.
